Senior Clinical Research Practitioner / Team Lead
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
We are currently recruiting for a Senior Clinical Research Practitioner / Team Lead for the Early Phase Research Team.
We are looking for candidates interested in building a career in research in one of the biggest haematology and oncology research teams in London. After completing a fully comprehensive induction package you will find yourself leading the co-ordination and set-up of a portfolio of clinical trials, identifying and recruiting trial patients, collecting and reporting data and supporting patients and their carers throughout treatment.Successful candidates will be excellent communicators with an eye for detail and a commitment to improving patient choices, care and outcomes.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be leading and managing a team of clinical research delivery staff and a portfolio of research studies with the responsibility for delivering high quality research and clinical care.
This role will be a mix of clinical and managerial and the post holder will be required to effectively manage his or her time to fulfil key responsibilities such as reviewing protocols, identifying resource implications, actively participating in meetings, proposing action plans for poor recruiting studies, training, supporting and mentoring other members of staff, leading on service development and contributing to the research business plan, whilst autonomously managing a caseload of participants.The post holder will be responsible for ensuring excellence in research delivery and participant experience.
Working for our organisation
As part of Kings Health Partners, the Oncology and Haematology Clinical Trials (OHCT) team is made up of fifty plus staff members consisting of Research Nurses, Clinical Trial Practitioners, Clinical Trial Coordinators and the Safety & Support Team at Guys’ and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
We work closely with the oncology and haematology medical teams to recruit patients to our trials and to ensure patients are monitored closely throughout. We have a large portfolio of Phase II and III trials; which are split into teams for specific tumour groups.We also have a team dedicated to early phase trials and run weekly early phase clinics in the Clinical Research Facility. We attract commercial and non-commercial trials, ranging from interventional drug or radiotherapy trials to observational studies.
Our mission statement is ‘Improving treatment choice, clinical care and outcomes for cancer patients through innovation, dedication and excellence in clinical trials’.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- Work autonomously to manage a large caseload of participants acting as a professional in ensuring a duty of care to the participants and their families.
- Work within relevant regulations and ICH GCP (International Conference on Harmonisation and Good Clinical Practice) ensuring that the clinical research protocol is adhered to at all times.
- Devise, implement and evaluate strategies to identify eligible participants for research studies, including by attending clinics, departments, screening notes/consultant referral and Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings. Support less experienced team members to implement those strategies.
- Coordinate the research participant pathway from screening through to study closure.
- Actively work to achieve study accrual targets including engaging with the research team and clinical teams to overcome barriers to participant enrolment.
- Liaise with the clinical team to organise and ensure that study specific investigations are undertaken according to the protocol, obtain and document the results.
- Deal with concerns raised by participants and visitors in a proactive manner and take appropriate remedial action as necessary.
- Review study protocols and identify resource implications for the site.
- Liaise with Clinical Trial Set Up staff to help assist in the set-up of commercial trials on site.
- Supervise the research team in the collation of data generated from clinical studies.
- Monitor patient recruitment and data collection week by week, reviewing recruitment figures and alerting the lead research staff and Principal Investigators to any problems with recruitment.
- Act as a role model for excellence in research delivery
- Lead and support the team acting as an expert resource, demonstrating tenacity, drive, professional integrity, balance and perspective.
- Motivate, develop, support and identify training needs for department staff and take a proactive role in the department training programme
- Undertake performance review and management and act on identified development needs to maintain high levels of performance and quality within the team.
- Act always in a manner which, promotes positive working relationships and maintains the professional image of the Trust.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and ability to deal with complex and sensitive situations.
- Basic knowledge of recent NHS legislation relevant to specialist areas
- In depth understanding of research methodologies
- Ability to lead, teach, supervise and mentor others in relation to all aspects of clinical research delivery
- Awareness of changing trends in healthcare
- Experience in audits
Previous experience
Essential criteria- Significant experience in clinical research delivery including managing own portfolio of studies.
- Substantial experience relevant to speciality
- Knowledge and experience of handling complex relationships
- Experience mentoring, developing and supervising junior staff in clinical setting
- Experience in service development
- Demonstrable managerial / team lead experience
- Experience of change management
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Demonstrable theoretical knowledge equivalent to masters/NVQ Level 7 qualification in life sciences or related field
- GCP certificate
- Evidence of continuous professional development
- Teaching experience
- Post graduate teaching qualification
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
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